Mass Effect: Andromeda's Future
by TheSeventhOlympian
Summary: Set 80 or so years after the events of Mass Effect: Andromeda, the galaxy has expanded its horizons further than they could have dreamed. While something broke along the way, it allowed another branching path besides the Initiative for the blossoming Milky Way colonists to grow in their new home. This is my imagining of the events set after ME:A


Introduction

The long corridor of space stretched out before them. A field of pitch black dotted with a countless sprinkle of stars. The only solace the crew of the Andromeda Unification Force ship _Solstice _had was its blinking lights. And even those had been cut off after a passing scavenger freighter had illuminated the ship searching for wreckage. This was not uncommon after battles, but this ship was far off from the zone of the nearby solar system where the AUF and Kett forces had fought several weeks ago. A few quick and low passes by the _Solstice's_ fighters had it scurrying off to find more vexing prey. Since then the crew had stuck with using radar and saw only space. They could still pick up traces of radio waves carrying both Kett and AUF transmissions from the battle raging behind them. Other than that the radio sat unused. Save for a few quick messages sent from various departments to the captain, the ship's internal comms was silent too. There was no telling who could be out there in the dark to hear.

The captain was a three-century old male Krogan by the name of Jorgal Drenn. The captain wore the blue warpaint of his clan and the customary orange body armor and flowing cloak of an AUF ship captain. His skin was marred by dozens of scars and very, very dry. Not many of his clan had joined him on his trip to Andromeda, and for that he was mournful. Old by human standards, but wise by way of war, he had served as a soldier for the Andromeda Initiative when the Old Nexus had been a new arrival in this strange galaxy. After the uprising on the Nexus however, he had been exiled along with the rest of the Krogan. Following that he spent four rough decades doing mercenary work and fighting Kett. There had never been a shortage of that; once you rooted them out of one hole, they'd retreat into another. He liked that about them. It gave him more to do.

Now he stood at the bridge of the finest ship he had ever served on. The Andromeda Unification Force's _Solstice_ was his pride and joy. The _Solstice_ was a white ship accented with orange; its name was written in golden letters on both sides of its hull. He loved this ship like it were his own. Although his officers liked to remind him of it, he neither built nor owned the _Solstice_, he simply commanded it. That made no difference to him. Serving in the AUF gave him and all of his mocking officers a purpose. Together they and half the galaxy stood united against the Kett and their ever-invading armies. They stood in competition to the Initiative and its backers back in the Milky Way, and Drenn seemed to think they did it better.

The AUF had been born of a disagreement between the Initiative's sixth Director and her Head of Nexus Security and Defense. The Director had been a human biotic that enjoyed playing it safe and spending as little resources as possible to do the job. The Head of Security and Defense had been a young male Turian sired from a poor family with big and ambitious dreams of conquering the unknown, and the Kett for that matter, and didn't care how much it cost to get the job done so long as it was completed properly.

Supposedly they had been friends once upon a time, though from the tales of their legendary arguments, Drenn had a hard time believing that. After the Director attacked the Head of Security with a rage-induced biotic blast, he gathered his supporters and fled the Nexus. They established a new base of operations, nicknamed the New Nexus, on an uninhabited planet on the galactic outer rim and ever since the leader of the AUF had been called the Head. They donned orange battle armor, and their mission was to simply repel Kett invasions and support the growth of the newcomers of the Andromeda galaxy. Whatever the cost.

That was what Jorgal Drenn and his crew were doing out in the dark space between solar systems. Hunting Kett for the growth of Andromedan citizens. Multiple reports had come from the traders, scavengers, and just plain fools that braved daring journeys of the many leagues of dark space from one star to another, and they all spoke chilling tales. A massive Kett war vessel that dwarfed anything either the Initiative or the AUF had, in some reports two or three at a time. Supposedly this ship or ships were eighty-gun dreadnaughts that could disable a ship and leave it open for destruction, though no ships had been disabled or destroyed by these mysterious hulks. A few reports even said that the ship changed shape every time you lost sight of it then found it again. Sometimes it was a bleak, straight vessel and other times it was a curvy monstrosity that bore many colors and symbols. Drenn had to laugh at the absurdity of the tales. At least, he hoped they were tales. He would never admit it to his officers, but secretly he was afraid, and desperately wanted to make it out of dark space alive. Like them, he had people waiting for him.

While he searched the black abyss before him for movement or lights, his chief navigator stared at the radar. They were four days into this mission and some crewmen were close to breaking. He appeared to be one of them. A lean Salarian with green skin and orange rims around his massive pupils, the man did not inspire love from his fellow officers, the crew he commanded, or Drenn himself. Qale Juain was his name, and you would never hear a kind word about him. Crew spat at the mention of him and officers pretended they didn't know him. He was demanding of his crew and unforgiving of mistakes. It made him the most hated officer onboard the _Solstice_, Drenn wagered. Yet despite this he commanded the greatest navigational team in the AUF. The past two days though Drenn noticed nervous twitches and suspicious murmuring under his breath. The Salarian before him had never liked the open space but this behavior was uncommon even for him.

All was quiet in the dwindling hours of the fourth day when the radar went off suddenly. Drenn, Qale, and half the bridge jumped in alarm. _Finally_, Drenn thought. It had never been a matter of _if_, but _when_. "Status report!" he barked at Qale. The Salarian shuffled uncomfortably and Drenn thought he hadn't heard him. Qale came to life then, and his three-fingered hands flew over the radar controls. He expanded the radar's horizons to five kilometers, then ten, then twenty. At twenty-five, they saw them. A mass of red dots on the pale red background of the radar symbolizing dark space. Drenn's breath caught in his throat. "What is that?" is all he could manage. "A shipyard, perhaps?" Qale responded. "We have no intelligence to go off of captain This could be anything." Whatever it was, Jorgal Drenn could not see it from this distance. "Get us closer." He commanded.

The ship sailed forward in hushed whispers and strained conversation between officers. The captain had a sudden thought. "Send word back to the New Nexus. The hunting varren has found its prey." The message was sent without question. No doubt the dots on the radar would pick up on the transmission of the message, yet it needed to be sent anyway. Someone needed to know that they found something before they- no, he couldn't think like that. He needed to make it back to his little home in the outskirts of the New Nexus. _They're waiting for you,_ he reminded himself. That gave him courage enough to bark an order for full speed ahead.

Qale's fearful twitching had not been for nothing. In front of them sat many hard and ugly ships. Plenty of sleek ships as well, but mostly hulking masses meant for decimation. Colors meant nothing to the Kett, not much did, so Drenn wasn't surprised to see ship parts of Initiative blue, AUF orange, and a not-so-splendid array of several other colors. _Hideous things. No wonder they feel Kett._ Ships of every imaginable size, shape, color combination, and weapon variation were in this makeshift dockyard floating in space fifteen kilometers in front of the _Solstice_. The radar counted a number of thirty-six, then forty-four, and finally stopped at fifty vessels total, though Drenn couldn't see more than a dozen and a half. His two hearts beat almost in unison. This was it. This was what they had come all this way for. "Captain!" shouted a thin, dark blue Asari officer whose name Drenn did not remember. "Several vessels are leaving their docks and targeting us!" He cursed loudly and harshly. "Set battle parameters for maximum efficiency and shields to one hundred percent. This will not be an easy fight." The captain chewed his lip savagely.

The _Solstice_ fired the first shot. An old kinetic round that tore through a smaller ship and one behind it too. A ragged cheer went up from around him and died just as quickly as it came. Guns all over the dockyard trained on them for a long moment before firing. The first dozen or so beams hit the shields and barely made a dent in its protective power. Then the medium-strength beams made contact, and the ship shook from the impact. But the shields withstood them. Drenn gave clearance for the fighters to be released and they screamed over him a few seconds later, two at a time with their faithful battle buddies. _I feel so alive!_ Drenn bellowed in his mind. _And so very, very scared._

Kett bots came as a swarm to meet the AUF fighters. A wave of bots and fighters met screaming and exploding. For every AUF fighter there were a dozen, maybe more, Kett battle drones. The radio was alive and furious now. It was so loud that Drenn could only hear the fighters communicating and screaming when their battle buddy died. The _Solstice_ tried helping out with limited small arms fire, yet they were hardly making a dent. Drenn grumbled a command. "Keep out of it. Aim for the monstrosities." As many Kett ships as he could see were now in a ragged battle formation and firing whatever they could at the only enemy in sight. Many more were awakening to join the battle. And the shields withstood, though now they were at ninety-seven percent instead of one hundred.

More shots came from the _Solstice_ before one of its guns exploded. One lucky Kett drone had careened from the battle of fighters ensuing above and struck a medium-sized energy weapon. Drenn clawed at his chest nervously. "Send a crew of mechanics out to fix it. Have guns ready to shoot down any more suicide bombers. We _must_ _not_ fail." His orders were conveyed, and crew shuffled about to replace personnel chosen to carry them out. The bridge was abuzz with words he could not hear. His eyes glued to the battlefield. Three more Kett hulks flanked the battle line and he noticed that they seemed to be closer. _What are they planning?_ He wondered in paranoia.

"Qale, run this formation through the database. Compare this with all known Kett battle tactics and find out what the hell they're doing!" The Salarian nodded and shouted his own commands. He had to exert himself just to be heard, and a Kett vessel exploded under the force of another kinetic shot making it even harder for the tired man. Suddenly Drenn noticed that a ship had come above the battle line with one side and forty guns facing them. Half of the guns lit up and a few seconds later the ship rocked, sending Drenn into the rails of the CIC and others onto the floor. A warning popped up; the shields were down to sixty-five percent. The shield on the port side had been pierced in one place, causing major damage, and several decks were breached. Before he could shout a command the other twenty guns fired just as quickly. This time the shots had been predicted, though there was little to be done. They were aiming for the mechanics and engineers fixing outside damage. _They're lost_, he believed. _How many men have I sent to die today? Are we all doomed?_

Anti-aircraft weaponry on the nose of the _Solstice_ began to fire. Drones and kinetic shots alike exploded, while others made it through the gunfire. Less than half of the following twenty shots had been exterminated or lost target. The rest slammed into the shields all along the port side of his beautiful, beloved ship. Explosions shook the vessel like nothing he had ever felt. Even thresher maws weren't this bad. This time, he fell. He heard the shouts of the Asari officer screaming about her fear of death. _We're all terrified of death, get over it. _He wanted to shout at her.

He climbed to his feet in slow motion and saw the battle before him turning from bad to worse. Shields were down to twenty-three percent overall and completely down on the bow and port side. What crew remained on their feet were running toward the exit and escape pods down the hall. With a cold fright, Drenn realized that they were abandoning him, and the _Solstice_, to die. He shouted for them to hold positions. "We can do this!" he bellowed at nobody in particular, and everybody in general. Some stopped and gave him a cold, expressionless look before continuing to flee.

Someone was screaming at him. He wanted to run and hide in an escape pod just as much as his routed crew, but he did not. Would not, he promised himself._ I must see this through. _He turned to face the voice and his fled senses returned all at once. Alarms screamed loudly and screens flashed bright warnings as Qale Juain was rushing towards him. "They're trying to surround us!" He warned. "A pincer movement." Anger flared in Drenn. "What does it matter now?!" He growled. "All is lost! Send word to the New Nexus. We failed, and I'm abandoning the _Solstice_!" He did not leave room for questions and stomped to the CIC. Beams and kinetic rounds combined to make his once immaculate ship armor turn to raging infernos. Seventeen percent of the shields remained to him.

"Brave fools we were. As brave as we could have been." He smiled as much as his scarred lips would let him and started his transmission. "Crew of the _Solstice_. We did what we could, and we're taking some of the bastards with us." He paused to let his crew savor that small victory. "However, we cannot continue our valiant fight. All hands abandon ship! Abandon the _Solstice_!" Ending that transmission was the hardest thing he had ever done. Turning toward the communications section, he observed Qale speaking to someone on the other end of the line. _This is no time for teatime talks!_ Thirteen percent of shields were left, and there were less explosions yet more alarms and beeps than ever before. Had they stopped firing at the _Solstice_ and started targeting escape pods instead? Were they allowing the ship and its crew a moment of hope? A cruel, evil moment to toy with their prey before ending it all? He did not know, and it frightened him.

Qale turned to him and shouted once more, his voice drowned out by the alarms. The ancestors-be-damned alarms. A massive shake of the ship, and Drenn thought that was it. Any moment now the Kett _bastards_ would end their games and he would be gone. Millions of miles away from his home, Tuchunka. What was he doing here in Andromeda? What were _any_ of them doing here? No answer came to him and he closed his eyes waiting to die. Only no death came, just Qale shouting like a giddy child. "Pathfinder! The Pathfinder is here!" When his eyes opened he saw it too. The Pathfinder's ship, though he couldn't identify _which _Pathfinder, except that they belonged to the AUF. It was a miracle. More then Drenn had ever wanted a miracle and it had come true.

The Pathfinder swooped in and began dealing small but decisive blows. Hitting weak points in armor, drawing Kett fire into friendly ships, and causing sheer pandemonium. Shields on the _Solstice_ were beginning to come back and all attention was on the Pathfinder. As he watched Qale advised him that the Pathfinder was not alone, and that backup was coming to cover their retreat and finish what they and the Pathfinder started. A real battle fleet. He smiled his scarred and ugly grimace. "Well then, Chief Navigator, let's get out of this battlefield. We have no place here among heroes."

As they made their retreat, sure enough, a true and mighty fleet passed them by. All of the ships sailing into battle wore the AUF's signature orange. He had never loved a color more than orange, he decided. Escape pods emptied out back into the _Solstice_ and cheers could be heard from deep in the ship's bowels. The captain felt relief like he had never been relieved before in his entire three-century life. He turned his head to look at Qale. "You were my only true and trusting officer. You did not abandon me in my time of most dire need. If only you were a Krogan and had four stones instead of two!" He laughed deep and loud, a sound the Salarian seemed distressed by. Nevertheless he nodded and shared a quick laugh with his captain. "Service, sir. That's all it was." Drenn considered that a moment.

Whatever he wanted to call it, Drenn called it bravery. "You're a brave little Salarian, I'll give you that." Qale Juain smiled at the compliment and, knowing his captain, accepted it graciously. It was not until the _Solstice_ was safe on its way home that the two men left the bridge to more capable hands. They were a mess, and everybody knew it. Sheepish faces of crew members that had abandoned them shied away from the captain's beady gaze. They knew what they had done to him. He knew as well, and he would not forget.

As they walked towards their quarters, Drenn grumbled. "Never forget, Qale Juain. Never forget what these bastards did to us. That they abandoned their _own captain_, and one of their high officers, too. I won't. I'll remember until my skull is at rest with my Krogan brothers and sisters in the sacred sands, and bleached white in the sun of New Tuchunka." The pair stopped and Drenn held his hand out for Qale, who studied it silently. It occurred to him that Qale might not return his gesture, and to both their surprise, he did. They each grasped the other's hand and gave a long shake. Hard-won respect met the desperate panic of survival, and a bond was formed in that handshake. Two men who should have been, would have been enemies, if they were back home and not in a crazy, mucked-up galaxy on the edge of all that they knew. "I won't," Qale said. "I vow to you, Jorgal Drenn, I will never forget."


End file.
